Insider Special: Good, Bad, & the Kitchen Sink

[Guest]

The Good, the Bad, the Kitchen Sink

By Terry Brown

Monday, March 10 Updated 4:45 PM EST

After watching KG tally 29 points, 14 boards and 12 assists Sunday night, making big shot after big shot, I'm left wondering if he's the league Most Valuable Player or rather the league's Most Improved Player.

And which would be more historically significant after the 7-foot wonderchild went 21-12-5.2 last season.

The Good

Shaquille O'Neal, Los Angeles Lakers

Week's work: 3-0 record, 35 ppg, 11.6 rpg, 3 apg, 0.3 spg, 4 bpg, 64% shooting

In case you were wondering, this is what $44.6 million a year at the age of 37 looks like in the boxscore. Too bad he's 11 months, 28 days and a handful of hours from being only 32.

Tracy McGrady, Orlando Magic

Week's work: 3-1 record, 38.5 ppg, 6 rpg, 6.7 apg, 2.2 spg, 0.5 bpg, 14 triples, 47% shooting

Started the season by carrying the 29-team league with 32.6 points per game in November and everyone was so sure he was the MVP. Now, with playoffs just around the corner, he's carrying just one team, his team, with 34.9 points per game in February and March, and everyone is so sure he isn't.

Gary Payton, Milwaukee Bucks

Week's work: 3-1 record, 19.7 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 7 apg, 1.7 spg, 1 bpg, 5 triples, 43% shooting

Nine games into the current season, the Seattle Sonics were 7-2 after Gary Payton scored 24 points in a win over Sacramento. They were in the playoffs and Milwaukee wasn't. Nine games into his current run with the Bucks and Milwaukee is 5-4 after Payton scores 28 points in a win over Golden State in overtime. They are now in the playoffs and Seattle isn't.

Allen Iverson, Philadelphia 76ers

Week's work: 2-2 record, 35.2 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 3.5 apg, 3.7 spg, 0.5 bpg, 5 triples, 52% shooting

Kobe Bryant may have recently become the youngest player in NBA history to score 10,000 points at the age of 24 years and 193 days. But in the same exact seven seasons that it took the youngster to do that, Iverson scored 12,617 points and won three scoring titles and an MVP award.

The Bad

Jason Kidd, New Jersey Nets

Weak work: 1-3 record, 11.7 ppg, 7 rpg, 7.7 apg, 0.7 spg, 0.5 bpg, 28% shooting

He started started the week with four turnovers and four assists in a loss to the Mavs, thought he hit bottom against Tony Parker in a loss to the Spurs before shooting 3-of-12 for six points in a loss to the Rockets. By the time the Nets finally won against the Hornets, everyone was too afraid to look at what had become of free agent to be and former MVP candidate Jason Kidd.

Kwame Brown, Washington Wizards

Weak work: 1-2 record, 8 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 0.6 apg, 1.3 bpg, 53% shooting

How many times do you think he's seen the tape of Michael Jordan diving for that loose ball and slamming his chin into the hardwood? How many times do you think he's going to have to see the tape of the greatest basketball player in history diving for that loose ball at the age of 40 to get that loose ball before he realizes that he was drafted higher than Michael, gets paid more than Michael and is almost 20 years younger than Michael?

Al Harrington, Indiana Pacers

Weak work: 0-4 record, 12 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 1.2 apg, 0.7 spg, 0 bpg, 34% shooting

Sorry, 27 points and 11 rebounds in a fourth consecutive loss do not make up for shooting 1-of-7 in the first loss of the streak or 1-of-6 in the second one as your team goes 1-10 since you scored two points on 1 of 5 shooting on Feb. 14.

The Ugly

After 17 seasons as general manager of the Los Angeles Clippers in which the franchise has compiled a record of 437-904, Uncle Elgin walked up to the microphone to announce the firing of coach Alvin Gentry after his team had won only 19 of 59 games for 32 percent and uttered the words: "We thought we had a playoff-caliber team," and neither he nor his boss can see the black pot or the black kettle.

The Kitchen Sink

FORTY TO THE HEAD

Tracy McGrady lit up Denver for 43 Sunday night.

Kobe, who last scored 40 on Feb. 23 against the Sonics, is up next.

And don't give me any gruff about team chemistry and all-around play. Losing doesn't help any locker room, and when either of these two players get over the 40-point hump, their teams usually win.

The Magic are 8-1 when McGrady does it and 25-30 when he doesn't.

The Lakers are 12-5 when Kobe does it and 23-21 when he doesn't.

Which underscores the fact that these two players alone have gone over it 26 times this season with 39 more opportunities between them to go.

Besides that, McGrady averages 7.1 boards, five assists, two steals and 0.8 blocks per game while doing it and Bryant is at 5.1 boards, four assists, 2.2 steals and 0.8 blocks when he does.

Those numbers may not be as good as when either of them isn't [censored]-bent on torching some team, but I bet they're still better than any starting swingman in the league who needs more than two games to score 40.

TOO GOODEN TO BE TRUE

Since their trade to the Orlando Magic last month, Drew Gooden and Gordan Giricek have averaged a combined 35 points, 16.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists and two steals on 50 percent shooting as their new team has gone 7-2 in that span.

The Memphis Grizzlies haven't done bad, either, going 4-3 as Mike Miller averages 15.2 points and 3.6 rebounds on 50 percent shooting.

But at this rate, Orlando pulled the rabbit out of the hat.

MORE MANU

Emanuel Ginobili is the eighth-leading scorer and eighth leading rebounder for the San Antonio Spurs while also having the fifth-most assists and fifth-most three-pointers on the team.

Early in the season, on Oct. 30, he played 30 minutes for San Antonio and scored 11 points. The Spurs lost that game, 106-98, to the Golden State Warriors and up until March 1, Ginobili hadn't played more than 24 minutes but three times all season.

On Jan. 31, he played 28 minutes.

On Feb. 16, he played 29 minutes.

On Feb. 20, he played 29 minutes.

Since March started, Manu has averaged 29 minutes to go along with 12.6 points, 3.2 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 3.6 steals per game on 55 percent shooting and the Spurs have gone 4-1 while winning 14 of their 16 games since Jan. 31.

FANTASY FIRST ROUND

If the playoffs started today based strictly on winning percentage with no geographical boundaries, teams from the Western Conference would get the top five seeds and nine of the 16 slots with first-round matchups that included Lakers versus and Nets and Magic versus Mavericks.

Heck, if it weren't for the Celtics versus Pistons and Sixers versus Pacers series, the Eastern Conference might be eliminated entirely in the opening round.

PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS

The Phoenix Suns are 23-15 with Anfernee Hardaway in the lineup and 10-14 without him.

STILL KING

Whether the Washington Wizards make or miss the playoffs, it looks like His Airness will remain the NBA's all-time leading scorer in terms of average.

After averaging 27.1 points per game in the month of February, Michael Jordan boosted his scoring to a current standing of 19.7 per game and career average of 30.286 after 1,053 total contest.

Wilt Chamberlain is second at 30.066 points per game in 1,045 career contests.

With 19 games remaining on the Wizards' schedule, Jordan would have to score only 17.8 points per game to maintain his rank.

TIMBER!

There are 17 teams in the NBA with winning records and the Minnesota Timberwoles, 41-24 on the season, have a record of 19-20 against them after their win over the Phoenix Suns Sunday night.

But any better and they might be worse off.

Currently, they are the fifth-seeded team in the Western Conference and would play the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round, whom they are 1-1 against. But if they were to move up to the third seed, their opponent would be the Utah Jazz, whom they are 1-3 against with an average margin of defeat of 12.6 points.

TURF WAR

Tony Parker, incumbent point guard for San Antonio Spurs

Since Jan. 1, 2003: 17.9 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 5.7 apg, 0.9 spg, 48% shooting

Jason Kidd, incumbent point guard for All-NBA first team

Since Jan. 1, 2003: 17.5 ppg, 6 rpg, 8.2 apg, 2.3 spg, 37% shooting

RED-HEADED STEPCHILD SPECIAL

Dallas Mavericks (48-14) versus Sacramento Kings (44-19)

Sunday, March 16

Arco Arena in Sacramento

12:30 p.m. PST

Last year, the Sacramento Kings beat the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference semifinals in a series that wasn't that close. On Jan. 15, the Kings beat the Mavs in a blowout. On Feb. 4, they beat them in a game Chris Webber did not play. On Feb. 27, they beat them in overtime. In fact, the last time the Mavs beat the Kings was on Oct. 8, 2002 in a preseason game featuring Sacramento standouts Jason Sasser, Sean Chen, Kiwane Garris, Corsley Edwards and Lawrence Funderburke.

THE END

"The anesthesiologist told me when he leaned over me, 'We named your kidney stone "Kobe" because it's not passing.' " — Phil Jackson hurting only when he laughs.

[Guest]

PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS

The Phoenix Suns are 23-15 with Anfernee Hardaway in the lineup and 10-14 without him."

Diesel i thought you said Penny wasn't the reason the

Suns have a decent record?